Would there be any difference between 4 JBL MRX515 and 2 JBL MRX525?

R

Richard Stringer

Sophomore
Jan 13, 2011
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16
Boston, Lincolnshire, UK
I'm wondering, me and my friend have got a question, would there would any difference in spl between 2 JBL MRX525 speaker cabs and 4 MRX515 speaker cabs? I'm thinking generally, sound becomes more and more directional above 250hz and the further you go up into the frequency range the more the sound is directional generally, obviously different cabs have different dispersion at different frequencies, but i'm thinking the main difference between 2 MRX525 and 4 MRX515 would be the MRX515 option would give me more sound coverage and the MRX525 option would give me higher spl in front of the speakers.

Am I right on this? By the way, if me and my friend go for the MRX515 option then we'd be mounting the cabs in a 2 x 2 configuration with the top pair of MRX515 cabs mounted upside down so the horn couple better. We're thinking about the MRX515 generally because i've got a pair myself, and we've got the chance to get another pair in mint condition for £400 total. That's a damn good price because they're a minimum of £550 each here in the UK.
 
Re: Would there be any difference between 4 JBL MRX515 and 2 JBL MRX525?

Well, the 525 gets a little louder but at what frequency? Do you really need that 3-5dB?
What problem are you trying to solve? If you need wider coverage perhaps another pair would help but they won't make it louder without compromising quality due to comb filtering and even then, you would get 3dB in the best case at twice the amplifier power.

What is the rest of the rig? Perhaps there is a better place to spend the money?
 
Re: Would there be any difference between 4 JBL MRX515 and 2 JBL MRX525?

Richard Stringer said:
...i'm thinking the main difference between 2 MRX525 and 4 MRX515 would be the MRX515 option would give me more sound coverage and the MRX525 option would give me higher spl in front of the speakers.
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That's right.

...if me and my friend go for the MRX515 option then we'd be mounting the cabs in a 2 x 2 configuration with the top pair of MRX515 cabs mounted upside down so the horn couple better
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You make no sense...you just stated above that more, smaller cabinets are for coverage. Not stacking on top of each other facing the same direction.

Considering that 4 MRX515 have 4 woofers and 4 horns vs 2 MRX525 have 4 woofers and 2 horns, you might assume that the 4 MRX515 might go louder, but in reality, with overlapping coverage, the resulting comb filtering will not be an improvement over MRX525 option.
 
Re: Would there be any difference between 4 JBL MRX515 and 2 JBL MRX525?

Keep in mind, that if you need to use a speaker stand the 525 will be hard (or impossible) to use. On the other hand, if you have dual 18 subs, you might be able to stack the 525s on top, for a quick setup.

I would get the 525s and keep the 515s that you own for smaller gigs.

YMMV.
 
Re: Would there be any difference between 4 JBL MRX515 and 2 JBL MRX525?

Rob, we're on a very limited budget me and my friend, so the MRX525 is as expensive as we can possibly afford, they're £770 each here in the UK. I bought a pair of MRX515 for my discos and use them with one of my SRX728S subs when doing discos. But me and my friend were thinking about going halves on another pair because we've seen the pair for sale used for a very good price of £450 for both, when they sell new for £550 each.

Silas,
Well the reason I said that about stacking the MRX515 cabs is because in small venues when we want a mono stack, we thought stacking the top pair of MRX515 cabs upside down on top of the first pair would give us less comb filtering.

Rick,
We don't ever split the rig up, we just normally use the MRX515 for mains when we do discos and as dj monitors when we use my friend's Peavey SP6 cabs for mains and do our own parties.
 
Re: Would there be any difference between 4 JBL MRX515 and 2 JBL MRX525?

Inverting the top cabs won't completely eliminate comb filtering, it just becomes vertical instead of horizontal(I could be wrong). So if you are jumping up and down you may notice it. Still not ideal but much better than placing them side by side. 4 boxes would be more flexible and allow you to break up the rig if needed.
 
Re: Would there be any difference between 4 JBL MRX515 and 2 JBL MRX525?

Another aspect of the MRX 515 that might come into play in certain situations is the pole socket. The down angle hole gives you a nice little option if you want to use one set for throw and one set to clobber the dance area in front. Might not be ideal, but it works.
 
Re: Would there be any difference between 4 JBL MRX515 and 2 JBL MRX525?

The MRX515 & MRX525 have the same Horn Driver; there for will throw the same distance; there for your SPL gain won’t be much.

But if you’re buying 4 MRX515, why??? Just buy 2 SRX715s as it costs the same.

I have an MRX525, which I use on Deaf Drummer who want to feel their kick. The box is rather large and cumbersome to move around.
 
Re: Would there be any difference between 4 JBL MRX515 and 2 JBL MRX525?

Matt Vivlamore said:
The MRX515 & MRX525 have the same Horn Driver; there for will throw the same distance; there for your SPL gain won’t be much.

But if you’re buying 4 MRX515, why??? Just buy 2 SRX715s as it costs the same.

I have an MRX525, which I use on Deaf Drummer who want to feel their kick. The box is rather large and cumbersome to move around.
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Even though it's the same horn driver, it could be on a different horn and/or with a different crossover setup, meaning that the two boxes could have significantly different HF output.

I agree with Doug that the four MRX515s might be nice for a hybrid 'front fill' setup (I actually do this with my Fulcrum rig and it works very well), but overall, as Matt suggested, just buy the right box to begin with.
 
Re: Would there be any difference between 4 JBL MRX515 and 2 JBL MRX525?

Silas Pradetto said:
Even though it's the same horn driver, it could be on a different horn and/or with a different crossover setup, meaning that the two boxes could have significantly different HF output.

I agree with Doug that the four MRX515s might be nice for a hybrid 'front fill' setup (I actually do this with my Fulcrum rig and it works very well), but overall, as Matt suggested, just buy the right box to begin with.
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Just as an FYI: the Horn Lense is also the same on all the MRX cabs and the Horn Xover is 1.7kHz on the 515 and 1.8kHz on the 525.

Don't get me wrong, the MRX cabs are very good choices when using them within their limits. I use my MRX512m as mains for small shows; under 125 people for rock bands with a short throw distance (under 75').
 
Re: Would there be any difference between 4 JBL MRX515 and 2 JBL MRX525?

Instead of going for either 4 MRX515 cabs or a pair of MRX525 cabs, I found a pair of used Peavey UL215H cabs very cheap so bought them to use for the time being until about febuary next year when i'll have saved up enough money to get a pair of Turbosound TQ440 cabs to go with my pair of SRX728S subs. I bought the Peavey cabs because they were cheap sound ok (not great obviously) and enabled me to do gigs straight away rather than wait months and months. Next year i'm gonna save up for used QSC Powerlight 380 and get myself a rd SRX728S sub and run 3 drivers per channel of the PL380. Hopefully 3 SRX728S will give me enough spl to keep up with the mighty TQ440 cabs.

Anyway, I apreciate your help on this MRX515/MRX525 idea.
 
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